By Adam Cooper

February 15, 2019 — 3.27pm

Senator Michaelia Cash has denied she referred the Australian Workers’ Union to the national regulator because of Bill Shorten, and told a court she had no knowledge of controversial police raids until she saw them on television.

Senator Cash gave evidence in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Friday during a civil trial brought by the AWU in an attempt to halt an investigation by the Registered Organisations Commission, which regulates unions and employer associations.

The AWU says the police raids on its offices in 2017 were part of a politically-motivated, and therefore unlawful, investigation by the commission.

During about four hours in the witness box, Senator Cash said she referred the AWU to the commission in August 2017 after a newspaper reported the union donated $100,000 to activist group GetUp! in 2005 and 2006.

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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was the national secretary of the AWU when the donations were made but Senator Cash, who was employment minister at the time of the raids, denied her involvement in the matter was motivated by the hope of discrediting her political foe.

‘‘It was of interest to me because he was the person named in the article as the relevant [union] secretary at the time,’’ she said.

Asked if Mr Shorten was of interest to her in 2017, Senator Cash said: ‘‘Not from a ministerial perspective, no.’’

Instead, she said she believed serious allegations had been made against the union and ‘‘it just happened that Mr Shorten was the relevant secretary of the AWU as outlined in the article’’.

Pressed by both Caryn van Proctor, for the AWU on whether there was a political interest in referring the union to the commission, Senator Cash conceded: ‘‘I am a politician. By nature I am political. But I think you are confusing the discharging of my role as the minister, which is based on facts.’’

Later, Justice Mordecai Bromberg permitted Ms van Proctor to ask Senator Cash more questions when the lawyer submitted the senator's responses had been "unfavourable" to the AWU case.

During the resultant and at times heated exchange, Senator Cash repeatedly answered "no" when asked if her referral to the commission was aimed at embarrassing, discrediting and disadvantaging Mr Shorten. Senator Cash said at one point she did not want the commission to investigate the Opposition Leader.

Senator Cash later said she was neutral on whether media reported an investigation into the union and had to be pressed by the lawyer and judge before giving her personal view.

"My view would have been 'I wonder what the outcome would be'. There are serious questions raised and that have not been responded to," she replied.

Australian Federal Police officers raided the AWU’s offices on October 24, 2017. Senator Cash has previously denied she knew anything of the raids in advance, although it later emerged her staffers were involved in alerting media to them.

Ben Davies, the senator’s then chief-of-staff, and David De Garis, her then media adviser, have been implicated in the leaks to the media, as has Michael Tetlow, who at the time worked for the then justice minister Michael Keenan.

Senator Cash on Friday said the first she knew of the AFP raids was about 4.45pm that day while she was in her Parliament House office.

‘‘I watched it unfold on television,’’ she said.

She said after Mr De Garis later offered his resignation over his involvement, she asked her other staffers if they had prior knowledge of the raids and if they leaked the details to the media. All "responded no and no", she said.

Asked if she had a ‘‘positive reaction’’ at seeing the AWU offices raided, the senator said: ‘‘I would have wondered why they were executed, what was the reasoning for the warrants.’’

She said she called another adviser, Elise Little, in to ‘‘ask what was going on’’. The commission had been in touch with Ms Little to advise that the raids were happening.

Senator Cash presumed the commission got into touch with her office because the commission, while an independent body, fell under her then portfolio as employment minister.